Psychology essay-Discuss evidence which suggests that physiological mechanism and emotion are co related.

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5. Psychology Essay-Discuss evidence which suggests that physiological mechanism and emotion are co related.

During the 19th century, psychologists started to think about behaviour through a physiological perspective. One of the first was Charles Darwin who studied emotions alone through a biological perspective. This was the foundation of forming certain areas of science such as neuroanatomy. The biological origin of emotion was also through William James in 1884 who briefly suggested that emotions are functions of sensory and motor areas of the brain. This theory was then supported further by Cannon and Bard in the 20th century who showed that emotional reactions require the use of the brain's hypothalamus.

As psychologists researched more about the physiological mechanism and the brain, they realized that there was a clear link between this mechanism and emotion. Psychologists define emotion in terms of combinations of three dimensions although these can vary according to interpretation although there are 6 universal emotions proposed by Ekman et al. which can be recognized universally as they are all expressed facially in the same way despite individual and cultural differences.

Emotions can lead to involuntary physiological changes which suggests a co-relation between the two and there